NoNBT

NoNBT is a lightweight, straightforward .NET library for reading and writing Minecraft's Named Binary Tag (NBT) data format.

Features

• Simple and Easy to Use: Created specifically for my Minecraft server implementation
• Full Support for Modified UTF-8: Properly handles emojis and special characters (for some reason other libraries don't)
• Java Edition Compatible: Currently supports the Big Endian format used in Minecraft Java Edition

While NoNBT isn't designed to be a comprehensive NBT library, it covers all the essentials you need for basic NBT operations with minimal overhead. I built it because I needed something reliable and focused for my own projects.

There is no SNBT (Stringified NBT) support in this library. If you need to parse SNBT, consider using a different library or implement it yourself.

Capabilities

• Read & Write NBT Data: Supports reading from and writing to streams
• Full Tag Support: Implements all standard NBT tags
• Modified UTF-8: Correctly encodes and decodes strings using MUTF-8 used by Minecraft
• Simple API: Easy-to-use NbtReader and NbtWriter classes
• Asynchronous API: Supports async methods
• Object Model: Represents NBT data using a clear hierarchy of NbtTag derived classes
• JSON Conversion: Basic ToJson() method on tags for debugging/testing purposes

Installation

Install the package via NuGet Package Manager or the .NET CLI:

dotnet add package NoNBT

Usage

Reading NBT Data

using var reader = new NbtReader(stream);

NbtTag? tag = reader.ReadTag();

if (tag is CompoundTag rootTag)
{
    string? name = rootTag.Get<StringTag>("name")?.Value;
    int? score = rootTag.Get<IntTag>("score")?.Value;
    Console.WriteLine($"Player {name} has score {score}");
}

// or use the indexer
string? name = (rootTag["name"] as StringTag)?.Value;

Note

NbtReader expects a raw, decompressed NBT stream. You need to handle GZip/ZLib decompression before passing the stream.

Writing NBT Data

using var writer = new NbtWriter(stream);

writer.WriteTag(new StringTag("message", "Hello, World!"));

var compound = new CompoundTag("root")
{
    new StringTag("name", "Player1"),
    new IntTag("score", 42)
};
writer.WriteTag(compound);

public void WriteTextComponent(TextComponent? component)
{
    if (component == null) return;
    using NbtWriter writer = new(this);

    CompoundTag tag = component.ToNbt();
    writer.WriteTag(tag, false); // text component root tag is unnamed
}

Note

NbtWriter writes raw NBT data. Apply GZip/ZLib compression after writing if needed.

Supported NBT Tag Types

The library fully supports the standard NBT tag types via the NbtTagType enum and corresponding classes in the NoNBT.Tags namespace:

• End = 0 (Implicitly handled by CompoundTag and NbtReader)
• Byte = 1 (ByteTag)
• Short = 2 (ShortTag)
• Int = 3 (IntTag)
• Long = 4 (LongTag)
• Float = 5 (FloatTag)
• Double = 6 (DoubleTag)
• ByteArray = 7 (ByteArrayTag)
• String = 8 (StringTag)
• List = 9 (ListTag)
• Compound = 10 (CompoundTag)
• IntArray = 11 (IntArrayTag)
• LongArray = 12 (LongArrayTag)